Interview with Carrie Turansky

About the Author

Carrie Turansky has loved reading since she first visited the library as a young child and checked out a tall stack of picture books.  Her love for writing began when she penned her first novel at age twelve.  She is now the award-winning author of fourteen inspirational romance novels and novellas.
 
Carrie and her husband, Scott, who is a pastor, author, and speaker, have been married for more than thirty-six years and make their home in New Jersey.  They often travel together on ministry trips and to visit their five adult children and four grandchildren.  Carrie also leads the women’s ministry at her church, and when she’s not writing, she enjoys spending time working in her flower gardens and cooking healthy meals for friends and family.

She loves to connect with reading friends through:

FACEBOOK | TWITTER | PINTEREST | WEBSITE

You can also connect with Carrie on:
GOODREADS | AMAZON

The Interview

1. How did you get started as an author?  What or whom inspired you?
 Our family spent a year in Kenya, and when we came back to the US I missed Africa so much I decided to write a story set there as a way to relive some of my experiences. I’d written reports and papers for college, but I’d never written fiction, so I just jumped in and poured out the story. That was a lot of fun, but writing fiction requires a unique set of skills, which you learn through reading and lots of writing. They say it takes 10,000 hours working on a skill to become an expert, and I agree that’s true, especially of writing.
  
2. How many books have you written and in what genres?
 I’ve written nineteen books, and fourteen of them have been published. The first five were my learning-how-to-write novels, and they are filed away. I’ve written both contemporary and historical romance, and all my stories have faith elements woven into them.
 
3. What writing projects are you currently working on?  What can you tell us about these projects?
 I’ve just turned in A Refuge at Highland Hall, the third book in the Edwardian Brides Series. It releases October 20. I’ve loved writing these books set in England in the early 1900s. The popularity of Downton Abbey has inspired a lot of interest in English society during that time period. I was able to tap into that interest and give readers stories with family drama, romance, and a happy ending.
 
I’ve proposed a new English historical series to my publisher, and I’m waiting to hear back from them on it. The working title for the first book in the Morningside Manor Series is Shine Like the Dawn. I’ve done quite a bit of research about Northumberland and found a great estate for the location. I’m excited to start working on it and bring the characters to life!
  
4. What does your writing process look like?
 I start by researching the time period and looking for a location. Reading biographies and searching online for books and articles is helpful. The plots and characters rise out of the research. Then I use Randy Ingermanson’s Snowflake Method to build the story, starting with one sentence and then step-by-step adding more to it. I like to use Pinterest and Google search to find images that stimulate my imagination and help me move ahead with my stories.
 
5. Where is your favorite place to write?
 I use a laptop computer, so I can move around the house and write in indifferent places. My two favorite places are at my corner desk in my dining room or in my favorite chair in the living room.

6. What authors/novels that you enjoy would you recommend?
 Some of my favorite authors and novels are Cathy Gohlke novels: Promise Me This, Band of Sister, Saving Amelie, and Secrets She Kept. I’ve also enjoyed Jan Karon’s Mitford Series; Julianna Donaldson’s, Blackmore; Lori Benton’s Burning Sky; Varina Denman’s Jaded and Justified; Julie Klassen’s The Secret of Pembroke Park.
 
7. Where is your favorite place to read and why?
 I like to read just about anywhere! My couch in my living room is very comfy, and I also enjoy reading outside on my patio in the back yard.

8. What period of history interests you the most?
I’d have to say Edwardian England is the most interesting to me now. I’ve loved researching that time period and learning about the relationships between the aristocracy and their servants, the customs and the fashions.
 
9. If you could choose someone famous to star in one of your books made to a movie, who would you choose and for which character?
 I enjoy finding images for all my characters, and I post those on my Pinterest board for each book. Sometimes I find actors and other times they are models or just regular people. Follow this link and you’ll see whom I have in mind for my characters in A Refuge at Highland Hall. It’s an exciting World War 1 story with a brave British pilot as the hero. I would love to see it made into a movie!

10. What inspired the idea for your Edwardian Brides series?
 The inspiration for the series is a mixture of several things - my love for Downton Abbey, reading Amy Carmichael’s biography, watching The Sound of Music, reading Jane Eyre, and stirring it all together in my imagination!
 
12. What other hobbies do you enjoy when you are not writing?
 I love flower arranging for weddings and special events, cooking healthy meals for friends and family, traveling for research and ministry trips, and spending time with my family, especially my grandkids. 

Check out my reviews for the books in the Edwardian Bride series:
THE GOVERNESS OF HIGHLAND HALL (coming soon)
THE DAUGHTER AT HIGHLAND HALL (coming soon)
​THE REFUGE AT HIGHLAND HALL + release day giveaway